Portable systems and Home systems..Can you really love both?

[Anthony1]

I know. Of course you can. But I was wondering if there were any gamers out there like me, that for whatever reason, have basically shunned portable machines, and never really have given them the time of day.

What I'm saying is, I think that most people are either console gamers or portable gamers by nature. I'm sure that people that are into portables, can also love home consoles, and people that are into home consoles, can also love portables, but when push comes to shove, you are either in one camp or the other. (by the way, was that enough commas for ya!) sorry.

So what camp do you find yourself in? Or do you totally disagree, and think that you can love both home consoles and portables with an equal passion?

I have had some portables back in the day, but for whatever reason, they didn't hold my attention very long. I had an Atari Lynx, and for a very, very short period of time, I had a TurboExpress. I also currently own a Game Boy Advance, but I never play the thing. So I have tried the portables, but there has yet to been one to capture my attention.

Maybe this will change with the new Playstation portable. Maybe not.

[CanX]

Right now I'm into my Gameboy Player. So what do you call that?

[zektor]

The Gameboy player is great. It's like having a SNES all over again, with brand new games coming out! I absolutely love it. And when I go garage sale hunting and I find a really old GB title, I can play that with it as well!

[Drexel923]

I do enjoy console games more, but I've spent a good amount of time with portable games too. The way it works with me is I'll usually spend a good amount of time playing nothing but console games and then I'l find a couple portable games I like and spend a bunch of time only playing that. I usually never play both types in the same time period. I alternate so everyone gets enough attention.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I like 80% console games, 20% portable machines games...

[atomicthumbs]

I find myself only playing my handhelds (GB, GBC,Game.com,Nomad,GGear) only if I happen to have them sitting near a bathroom with a good game (and batteries) inside. Usually it ends up being Donkey Kong for GameBoy Color.

[StrychNiNE]

I have found that I really never have time or a place to play portable games. I mean, sure I could play the GBA or whatever sitting in my room, but just don't find myself doing that...why suffer the small screen when you can use the GB Player? Furthermore, I don't really find myself being dragged by my parents anywhere given the fact that I don't live with them...so theres another lost opportunity. Eh - I would be surprised if many 20+ people really actively play portables anymore. I'm sure there are, I just personally don't.

[AB Positive]

I sorta do things ass backwards. I try to seek out ways of playing the home systems I have, portably. GBA essentially equals SNES, I have a Master Gear Converter for the GG, and I'm still looking for a Turbo Express.

I have this odd quirk needing to play this stuff portably.

-AG

[Videogamerdaryll]

From just reading the topic..

Yes,... I collect for both and love both..

[The Manimal]

I like both, and there's cases in which my favorite of a series was on a portable.


Zelda IV
Metroid II


Favorite of both series'.

Yes, I like Metroid II just slightly more than Metroid III! Metroid II just crushed the original (even considering the original game is the foundation of the series), and Metroid III refined the series once again, but my nod goes to the second one as that was the game that took the 'leap'. If Metroid II was really basic like the original, I'd definitely had gone with 'III'.

I use the portables, but really once there's an adaptor to play them on the TV (ala Super Game Boy, Game Boy Player), the portable system's don't get very much use. I have used portable systems on the road, mainly if I'm going to visit relatives with my parents and they are driving. But most of the time I am driving (duh) otherwise and I can't drive and play VG's at the same time. That would take super-talent

[Sothy]

sub attack by RADICA: rulez j00

[maxlords]

I collect for both, but my portable collection mostly just languishes. I play about 90-95% console, and the rest portable. It's nice when you want it, but for me that isn't often.

[Daniel Thomas]

Right now I'm into my Gameboy Player. So what do you call that?

I call it a Super Nintendo. :P

Seriously, I hardly ever touched a GBA until the SP came out; I can't imagine trying to play games without a frontlit screen. But it seems to me that today's console games become tomorrow's portable games. Again, look at the Advance, which is 80% SNES shovelware.

I really don't care about the platform as long as the games are good. Console, PC, handheld, whatever.

[Captain Wrong]

Y'know, I'd love portables more if they made one that was designed to be played by someone with hands larger than a six year old's. The Game Boy and the GBA seriously give me some hand cramps. Is it so hard to think that maybe an adult might want to use one of these things? Forget the GBA-SP, I want the GBA-XL!

Oh yeah, that brings up another point. The GBA's terrible screen. I really don't feel like shelling out for another GBA just to get one with a screen I can actually see when I'm not sitting under my reading light.

And furthermore, I'd play a portable a lot more if there were games I actually wanted to play on them. It seems like as of right now (at least until Sony's machine comes out) I'm limited to SNES ports I'm not that interested in or kiddy games. Granted, I love Pinball of the Dead, but that's about it for the GBA.

So, to answer the question, yeah, it's possible, but not with what's out there currently, IMHO.

[The Manimal]

The GBA is actually 'okay' with the hands. The GBA SP is super cramp fest. I have to curl my index fingers almost into a ball to hit the L and R buttons. I opted to buy the original GBA instead. I wish it was backlit, but I guess I can buy a light anyways. As far as the GBA SP goes, I MIGHT buy one when they drop price (and get a black one, like the imports)...but of course, I'd have to buy yet again an adaptor piece....this time something to make the unit bigger...like a 'grip'.


The original Game Boy was perfect. Nice and big. Then they shrunk it to this hand numbing Pocket and Color versions. The Advance is 'okay' as said before, but SP is back to the Pocket/Color blues...

[Oobgarm]

I remember getting my original Game Boy (packaged with Tetris) from Service Merchandise. I watched the conveyor belt with great anticipation, until I finally had the thing in my hands. I played it alot, until it finally just crapped out and died. I then got a Game Boy Pocket. I wish I still had my gold one.

I pretty much passed on the Game Boy Color, but I did pick up the GBA on import a few months before it came out here. It got a decent amount of play, but nowhere near the playtime I put in on the old "brick". I gave in recently and got an SP, which has had Wario Ware in it ever since.

I only play portable stuff when a console isn't available. As Anthony said,

...you are either in one camp or the other.

So, I mainly play the consoles, but I enjoy the GB whenever I get the chance. And the GB Player is great.

[Achika]

Does a console or handheld have the game I want to play? Yes? Then that's what I'm playing.

Asking if you like consoles or handhelds is like asking if you like PS2 or Xbox.

[digitalpress]

I'm definitely not like you, Anthony1. I love the portables even though my console games are my FIRST love. My favorite true portable is the Lynx but if you're "anti-portable" why not get a Nomad or Game Axe or TurboExpress - at least that way your console GAMES are still useful.

[NE146]

I use todays portables for exactly what they were meant to be.. "gaming on the go".

Whether it's waiting in the car for someone, or going with the wife to the clothing stores, or sitting on the crapper, or waiting at the dentist/doctor's office. or anything like that, then having one of those puppies is KEY. Aside from that, I barely play it.. but since I'm always doing something of the sort, the portables do get a lot of play.

[bargora]

35 minutes on the bus/train on the way to work + 35 more on the way back x 5 days a week = almost 6 hours of GBA every week! (Well, sometimes I read the paper.) And then there's a few minutes finishing up that Advance Wars battle when you get home...

Then, make dinner, eat, clean up, and maybe mosey upstairs and visit the consoles.

Plus, like ne146 points out, there's a lot of BS waiting time in line at the Home Depot, at the DMV, etc. Definitely time to whip it out and have some fun.